Cady was sitting on a log bench, watching smoke and ash rise from the fire in front of her. The night sky didn't have a single cloud and all the stars were out for them. People were dancing all around the fire, celebrating the marriage of two Cheyenne people.
One of Cady's clients, Celia, was getting married and insisted she attend. Celia's wedding ceremony was very traditional, and it was nice for Cady to be able to see how in touch with her culture Celia was.
The ceremony was complete and now a large bonfire was being held in celebration. She was sitting by herself at a table, feeling just slightly like an outsider. As happy as she was to be there, many of the other guests were complete strangers to her.
There was loud drumming on the outskirts of the fire for people to dance to. The movements and steps all seemed so elegant to Cady, the way they all knew exactly what to do and looked so natural doing it.
Across the fire, she met the eyes of Jacob Nighthorse. He was speaking to a Cheyenne man, but his eyes were fixed on her. The flames casted shadows on his face, exaggerating his features and giving his skin a mysterious red glow. Sometimes she thought she would kill to know what he was thinking. Jacob was so hard to read that she found herself always being drawn in further and further for answers, but somehow never finding any.
Watching as he excused himself from the conversation, he walked confidently over to Cady. He was wearing blue jeans, a white shirt, and his brown leather jacket.
"Cady. I did not expect to see you here," he said over the drum line.
"I actually didn't expect to see you here either." This was a lie. She had seen Jacob at the ceremony and admittedly found herself looking over to him with frequency. Not that she would admit that. "Um, Celia was a client of mine," she explained. "Other than the sweat, this is one of my first traditional Cheyenne experiences."
Jacob took a seat next to her, sitting close enough that their legs touched. It was loud, and they needed to be close to hear each other properly.
He spoke quieter now that they were closer. "Ah. Well I'm glad to see it. Now that you're a part of this tribe, it's time you learned our traditions," he said.
She smiled and nodded in agreement. "Fair point. Tell me about some Cheyenne marriage traditions. I'd love to hear about it," she remarked.
He pressed his lips into a thin line, trying to decide how to respond. "I should probably start off by telling you about old Cheyenne courtship. In Cheyenne culture, courtship was formal. A man who wished to marry would select a young woman who he admired. He would make a point to meet her at a dance. When they danced they would flirt with their eyes, casting each other winning looks."
Jacob was telling this eloquently, Cady listening intently. Without realizing it, she has been leaning in as he spoke, intrigue pulling her in.
He continued, "They would dance around the fire, and if they met each other's eyes and shared an intense gaze, the first step in their courtship would be initiated."
Completely engrossed, Cady murmured, "Wow. That's… That's beautiful."
"Yes, it is," he said solemnly. "Times have changed obviously, it's not a tradition used anymore. But it's important to remember the tradition regardless."
"You're right," she agreed. "I like learning about Cheyenne traditions. Maybe you ought to teach me more from time to time."
"If you'd like, I can show you the traditional Cheyenne ritual dance." He gestured to the dancing around the fire.
She laughed and shook her head. "No, no. I couldn't possibly. Not in front of all these people. Thank you, though."
"If the people are the problem, then I'll teach you at my place. We stayed through the ceremony, I think we've been here long enough that we can make a respectful exit."
"You want to teach me? Like, right now?"
"Yeah. Consider it a contribution to your cultural knowledge."
She stared at him briefly. Searching his eyes curiously, she only saw sincerity.
"Alright, let's do it."
[L] [L] [L] [L]
Stumbling through the uneven terrain of Jacob's property, she followed behind him diligently. The pitch-black night made it hard to see much at first, but her eyes were adjusting. Jacob held the flashlight to find their way, dragging a cardboard box filled with more cardboard in tow.
They approached a big pile of branches and logs about as tall as Jacob himself.
"Hold this," he said, handing her the flashlight. "Point it on the burn pile for me."
He started methodically stuffing cardboard between the branches and twigs. The lighter in his hands slowly lit various pieces of cardboard, and as they burned he repositioned small branches to catch on fire from the flames of the boxes. Jacob coaxed the fire by crouching down and blowing air into the heart of it.
Slowly but surely, the fire on the small branches caught and spread to the larger branches, and in no time larger branches were heating up the logs and catching them as well. The light from the fire as bright enough that she could flip off the flashlight.
"You're pretty good at that," Cady remarked.
"I have fires out here often. Helps to clear the mind." He clapped his hands together to brush the dirt off. Disappearing into the darkness away from the fire without a word, she wondered what he was doing. Her question was answered when she saw him bent over, rolling a tree stump for them to sit on. "Take a seat. I have to run up to the house"
She sat down and let the fire warm her up. Watching it, she found herself oddly mesmerized. The flames licked the sky and ashes rose to the stars, glowing till they go far enough up to cool and begin floating back down like snow. He was right about the fire. There was a calming effect.
Hearing Jacob before she saw him, she turned her head to direction of the rustling footsteps. He had a Bluetooth speaker, a blanket, and a couple beers in his hands. He silently passed her a beer and hooked up his phone to the speaker. Her eyebrows raised curiously.
"This part isn't exactly traditional," he said, referring to the beer and Bluetooth speaker. He smirked slightly.
Opening her beer and taking a sip, she smirked back. "Are my ears deceiving me, or did Jacob Nighthorse just crack a joke?"
"I've been known to do that from time to time." He stood in front of her, a hand extended in invitation. "I promised I would teach you the dance, and now it is time for me to deliver. Come on."
She sighed and placed her hand in his, letting him pull her to her feet. "What did I get myself into?" she laughed nervously.
He took her through the steps gracefully. Trying her best to copy his movements, it didn't look quite as good as Jacob, but she was improving quickly. The dance had them coming together and pulling apart, their hands finding each other, before spinning and turning. They practiced this a few times, Jacob correcting her when necessary.
"Alright, now it's time to test it."
A drum line came through the speaker as he found the track on his phone. The phone was set back down on the log and he turned his head back to her.
He took her hand and began the first steps. At first, she was unsure, trying to remember the steps and what she was supposed to be doing with her hands.
"Don't think about it too hard," he said.
She nodded her head and exhaled, relaxing and willing herself to just feel the beat and do what she felt in the moment. Looking into his eyes, she followed his lead and began to mirror him.
Dancing as the other half of him gave her the rhythm to she needed. They moved together beautifully, in perfect unison now. She spun away from him and made eye contact every time she faced him again. Stepping forward, her hand reached out at exactly the same moment his did and they met and entwined, before they released and stepped back again.
They fell into a rhythm where they were keeping eye contact intensely, meeting each other's eyes again after every turn, even if it was only for a moment.
The rest of the world faded away, and all she knew in this moment was the beat of the drums, his dark eyes, and her own movement around him. Her skin was burning, and she had no idea if it was from the radiant heat of the fire or from the growing heat of their dance.
His words from the ceremony entered her mind. She wondered vaguely if what they were doing now would be considered courtship. Were they casting each other winning looks? If someone saw them, would they whisper of the intensity?
Spinning away from him one last time, their ritual dance ended. They stood there, chests heaving from the exertion. Their eyes searched each other, both unsure of what to do next. Cady thought, his expression was just as unreadable as always.
Cady sat down of the log again because it was something natural to do. Picking her beer back up, she took a swig. Jacob stretched out on the blanket, looking up at her curiously.
She slid off the log and onto the blanket where he was stretched out, his arms making a pillow behind his head. He didn't say anything, only following her with his eyes, not moving an inch. She laid next to him, mirroring his position. They both stayed there and quietly watched the fire.
"You really do this all the time?"
He nodded. "Couple times a week." He tilted his head back and stared up at the stars.
Cady said, "I wish other people could see this side of you. People treat you like you're scary. But I don't think I've ever seen you show yourself to anyone else, not really. Not like this."
His eyes drifted back to her with an eyebrow raised. He pursed his lips in thought.
"It's true that I'm less… guarded with you. Some people can be scared of what they don't understand. But here you are next to me."
"Doesn't it get lonely?" she asked.
He shrugged. "My businesses and my tribe have been the only things in my life for so long. I've grown used to it. It's all I've known for a long time. But after you leave, yeah, I imagine it's going to feel a bit lonelier." He looked at her, gauging her expression.
She sucked in a breath. Deep in his eyes she could see he was feeling the connection between them too. His eyes briefly flicked down to her lips, betraying his thoughts, and came back to her eyes.
The tension between them was becoming unbearable, and yes, she would admit it was sexual tension. At times when they were together in her office or the casino, it was much easier to ignore. But in the dead of night, completely alone, it was a much different story. The imaginary line between them was becoming blurred. The line was important. This line said "we are coworkers, we are professionals, and at best we are acquaintances who enjoy each other's company." Without that line, dangerous thoughts lay ahead.
Turning her head away from him, she exhaled deeply. Her eyes were set on the fire, afraid to look at him as she said what she was going to say next.
"Maybe for tonight…" she trailed off, unsure of what she was saying. Maybe for tonight, she didn't have to leave. But if she was misreading signals, she would never live it down.
He turned on his side to look at her and Cady all but stopped breathing. An unspoken agreement was met in their eyes. Reaching for her, he put his hand behind her head, bringing her to him. His lips covered hers in a burning kiss. She moaned in relief that this was what he wanted, too.
He reached his arm around her and pulled her flush against him. It was clear he and Cady both had the same end goal. Cady's hands tugged possessively at his shirt before her fingers found the bottom hem, giving her hands access to run along his bare skin. Silently begging him to end this burning ache consuming her body, she pulled his shirt over his head and found his lips again.
He was gripping her butt firmly with one hand. Before she knew it, they were sliding all the important clothes down their bodies - the ones that blocked access to each other.
Jacob's jeans were barely around his ankles but Cady wasted no time in straddling Jacob. The heat made no impact on the shiver she felt down her spine, and it occurred to her that the temperature had nothing to do with it.
[L] [L] [L] [L]
Once they had finished, she slid off him and back on to the blanket. Jacob gathered his jeans from around his ankles and pulled them back up, just lifting his hips slightly off the ground to get them on. She found hers on the ground and put them on as well.
Jacob laid there with nothing but his jeans on, his shirt still cast aside. He silently watched Cady sit back down on the blanket. Holding an arm out, he silently invited her into his embrace. There was enough light to see Jacob's expression, read his eyes. There was no teasing there, no sign of gloating because of what they had done. There was just a contentment in his eyes that made Cady want to lie back down. Which she did.
She found herself next to Jacob again, her hand making lazy circles across his bare chest.
[L] [L] [L] [L]
Cady woke up to the feeling of a hand rubbing her back.
"Hey. Cady."
She cracked an eye open and raised her head a little. She saw Jacob, sitting up groggily and looking down at her.
"We should head back up to the house. We stayed out here all night."
"Oh. Crap."
Smoke was rising through the morning air from the pile of ash and small smoldering branches.
He stood up and picked his shirt up off the ground. Tossing it over his shoulder, he held out a hand to her. "Come on. I'll make us something to eat."
She took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. They walked silently back up the house, Cady's stomach churning nervously. Jacob opened the back door and held it open for her to walk through. Following in behind her, he tossed his shirt onto the couch and led them to the kitchen. Cady admired Jacob's shirtless jean-clad form shamelessly.
"How does eggs and toast sound to you?" he asked.
Her stomach growled and she became aware of how hungry she really was. "Sounds phenomenal."
He dug around in the refrigerator, pulling out eggs and orange juice. "How do you take your eggs?"
"Sunny side up," she replied.
Jacob's lips curled up at the edges just slightly. "Me too," he said softly.
A seat called out her name, and she sat there watching him cook breakfast quietly. In no time two plates of eggs and toast were before them with glasses of orange juice to pair.
Biting into her toast, she chewed thoughtfully. It was time to break the silence.
"We should talk about this," she said at last.
"Yeah." He set his food down. "Last night… We probably shouldn't have done that."
A playful smile formed on her lips. "Which time, the first or the third?"
"All of them," he jested. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes. He sipped his orange juice and his eyes fell serious again. "I suppose there are a couple ways we could go about this. We can deal with it head on. Or… we could ignore last night and pretend it never happened. I'm not partial to this but I could understand if it's what you want."
"No. No pretending. No games," she said.
"Good. Then I won't pretend I haven't wanted to get you naked and have my way with you every night since Calvin Black Wolf brought you to my office."
She raised her eyebrows a little. The bold statement caught her off guard. "And I won't pretend that last night wasn't the best sex of my life," she said. A glimmer of pride and surprise flashed in his eyes. "We slept together. Willingly. With no excuses," Cady said. He walked over to her and held her from behind. A kiss on her neck sent her eyes fluttering and skin tingling. "I don't want there to be excuses. We're attracted to each other. I don't want to have to conjure up some reason why. This was inevitable. And last night was… amazing," she remarked.
"Yes, it was. I've never been very good at resisting temptation."
"I guess the only question is if this is something we're going to do it again." She leaned her head back onto his shoulder.
"It would be… complicated between us. Your dad and Henry pose problems. And there would be people in the tribe who would be furious with us considering how much money I give you."
"Forget about the rest of the world."
"It's not that simple," he said.
"What do you want?" she asked. Turning to face him, her hands wrapped around his waist.
He sighed. It was nearly impossible for him to look at Cady and not feel himself being drawn to her. It was a precarious magnetism he was all too familiar experiencing around her. He pushed a stray hair from her face and rested his hand behind her neck. "I think I've made that pretty clear."
"No one has to know what we do," she murmured.
He pursed his lips. "In this county…" he trailed off. "That way of thinking only lasts so long. All it would take is Henry or local law enforcement showing up announced while you're here and it would be everyone's business. Which they frequently do. Usually armed and sometimes with warrants," he said disdainfully.
She leaned in and kissed him on the lips. "I don't care. I just know I can't go without doing this again. We'll figure it out."
"I know," he murmured. "Okay. If it's what you want… no one has to know what we do." His hands tangled in her hair as he brought her in for another kiss. She moaned into him.
Pulling away, she commented, "I vote we finish this food and then take this party to the shower."
"Mm. I like the way you think." He took another bite of toast and watched her affectionately.